Friday, April 30, 2010

Conceding that the Obama administration has failed to devise any workable plan to resolve the housing crisis, Secretary Geithner effectively threw up his hands and asked for anyone’s help. Got any good ideas?

Meanwhile, Rep. Barney Frank has turned the House Financial Services Committee’s web page into a political hack that makes Blue Virginia look like Karl Rove’s diary. That in itself is bad enough, but in his latest missive, Rep. Frank has the gall to blame Republicans for the Fannie/Freddie crisis. You’ve got to be kidding me. Frank’s chumminess with the GSE’s was the single biggest contributor to the unbridled growth and unparalleled decline of those government sponsored behemoths. He personally took huge contributions from the companies’ executives, undoubtedly prompting his repeated defense of them. In 2003, Frank said, "These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis. The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing." In 2004, Frank again said at a hill hearing that the regulator’s report on illegal activity by Fannie Mae does not "raise safety and soundness [of Fannie Mae investments] problems at issue.”

Oh, wait, there’s more. There also are reports that he was once romantically linked to a Fannie Mae exec. Ahh. Maybe that explains it all.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

I supported Lori Waters in her race against Jack Ryan for Broad Run supervisor, and I had some bad feeling when Mr. Ryan failed in his bid for the Republican nomination and ran as an independent. I still seriously question his integrity given that maneuver alone.

However, he did step up and volunteer for the Broad Run district chairmanship when no one else would take it. No one. Moreover, it’s not as if he orchestrated his election as Broad Run chair through deception and outrights lies (cough, cough, Sugarland Run). Mr. Ryan jumped in when no one else wanted the job and, at least nominally, is willing to sacrifice time and effort to lead the Republican cause in Broad Run. Indeed, he volunteered to take the chairmanship cognizant of inevitable personal attacks given his history with Loudoun politics. As such, part of me has a newfound respect for Mr. Ryan and believes he should be given a fair opportunity for redemption.

After reading his posts and those of others, though, the other part of me is slapping the back of my head saying, “Grow up knucklehead! Don’t be so naïve.” He sold out the party and disregarded his pledge to support the Republican nominee. That much is hard to ignore. Why wouldn’t he do that again – and this time, from a position of greater “power?”

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

In his first address to the Loudoun County Republican Committee, the new chairman referenced political opponents as “enemies” to be defeated. Now, that first meeting was a train wreck for many reasons, but I want to focus on this one word because I think reveals, perhaps inadvertently, the mindset of the new leadership of the Committee.

“Enemies,” to my way of thinking, are Osama Bin Laden, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong-Il, cancer, and lima beans. Democrats are not “enemies.” They have a different agenda based on a different set of beliefs relative to the role of government. They do not seek to destroy the nation. They are not trying to kill us. Now, like lima beans, they may make us gag from time to time, but most elected Democratic politicians seek to do what they believe is best for the country, state or county.

The vitriol spewed from the chairman, intentional or not, simply engenders the divisiveness that has, at its highest level, both paralyzed Congress and marginalized the role of the minority party. It has no place in politics at any level. Indeed, the language used by the chairman and others calls to mind George Washington’s warning about political parties as creating “ill-founded jealousies and false alarms.”

My fervent hope is that our new chairman can keep the proper perspective on politics and parties for everyone’s benefit.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Three times just today, I saw candidates refer to popular opinion of their respective constituencies as their divining rod in deciding how to vote on any particular issue. While pollsters certainly profit from that approach, our elected leaders must be something more than mere chart followers. Allow me to set them straight.

A leader takes the path directed by his heart and mind - regardless of its popularity. The successful leader takes that path and convinces the rest of us of its merit. A leader need never, and should never, look to an opinion poll to determine his own beliefs or position on an issue.

While I'd like to take credit for first articulating the philosophy, the sentiment, if not the words, comes from Richard Nixon's book, In the Arena. It may or may not have worked out that well for him, but Nixon's approach to leadership certainly resonates with me.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

This is about par for the course. Obama imposes a health care program upon us that most of the country disapprove. Obama imposes false deadlines for our withdrawal from Iraq that jeoparize our troops' safety. Obama imposes new limits on nuclear weapons without consent of the Senate. If figures, then, that Muslim "leaders" (formerly known as terrorists) would request that he impose peace in the Mideast by simply directing Israeli leaders to submit to Palestinian plans.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

"Like it or not" the US is a superpower?! Yet more irresponsible comments from America's Apologist-in-Chief.

Keep in mind, he was responding to a question - not simply reading from a teleprompter loaded with prepared remarks. Does he really believe that being a superpower could ever be a bad thing or was it just (another) unscripted gaff? At any rate, McCain's response well exceeds anything I could write here, ""We are the dominant superpower, and we're the greatest force for good in the history of this country, and I thank God every day that we are a dominant superpower."

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

It shouldn't come as a suprise that former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee opposes gay marriage and gay adoption, but really. Is his latest message likening adoption of children to the adoption of puppies really appropriate? If I'm an adopted kid or the parents of an adopted kid, gay or not, I'd be extremely offended by those remarks. At any rate, Huckabee, though allowing himself to be painted as a nutball, has now crashed and burned. Don't expect him to get anywhere in 2012.

Unfortunately, it's the lastest, but I'm sure not the last, example of right-wing craziness that must be controlled if Republicans are to win in 2010 and 2012. Where the heck is Steele on this?

Friday, April 9, 2010

Fannie Mae execs blaming competition for their irresponsible (and illegal) lending practices is really simply masking the real motivation behind it - greed. Now, I'm all for business, and even risky business practices have their place. However, where Fannie and Freddie were chartered for a particular purpose and received federal subsidies to meet that purpose, there's no excuse for their executives going so far off the deep end.

Though there's no excuse, there is, however, a reason: Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and the other Fannie Mae puppets in Congress who refused to rein in the mortgage behemoths. Why haven't they been called to testify before The Meltdown Commission?

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

This really gets my goat. Supervisor Buckley again manages to vote against a budget that raises property taxes, thus, being able to deflect (on paper) the claim that she's a tax-and-spend liberal. The reason she voted against it, though, is that the budget cut the school budget. You'll recall last year, she also voted against the property tax increase - because it wasn't HIGH enough.

Nearly half of all Americans pay no income tax - even a family of four making $50,000 a year get a free ride. Perhaps if more people actually paid income tax, there would be fewer people seeking to increase them.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

President Obama boldly proclaimed that the United States would never use nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear state. In so doing, he defied a well-reasoned, multi-generational, bi-partisan policy of never stating when the US would or wouldn't use nuclear arms.

And why? What do we get out of limiting our options and defying every conventional war strategy? Indeed, his actions will have just the opposite effect of the stated intention to reduce the likelihood of nuclear war. Rather than diffusing nuclear tension, he creates a perception of weakness, thus in effect challenging both nuclear and non-nuclear powers to test our resolve.

Most shockingly, though, is that he apparently neglects the fact that we did use nuclear weapons on a nation that had none - Japan. What would he do if we were faced with a similar war where thousands of American lives would be lost without use of the bomb? Let's hope we don't have to find out.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Hon. Frank Johnson, exhibiting Webster-like oratorical skills, explains his concerns over Guam "cap-sizing." And by "Webster," I don't mean Daniel Webster - I mean the little guy from the sit com. (Credit the admiral for doing an admirable job of keeping it together).

Can you believe this buffoon? Truly, he proves that Congress is composed of morons.